NAHANT — The Town will soon roll out a composting incentive program allowing participating residents a free full year of compost pickup, composting equipment, and possibly a trash bill abatement.
In an effort to reduce the town’s waste tonnage and encourage environmentally-friendly organic waste disposal, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve the allocation of $15,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward a pilot program with Black Earth Compost.
Nahant currently has roughly $80,600 left in federal ARPA funds from its original pool of roughly $1 million that it must spend before the end of 2024.
“(We were originally) prioritizing the costs for the public health needs of the town. Now that we’ve kind of gotten through that time of our lives, and we’ve allocated funding from our omnibus budget for public health, we were able to use some of this funds for other capital projects… we’re talking about going through our waste services issues and came up with an idea of using some of this money towards solving some of those cost issues that the town is facing,” Town Administrator Tony Barletta said.
During initial discussions on the pilot program in August, Barletta said a national spike in curbside waste-removal costs reared its head in Nahant, causing an annual curb-collection cost increase of 4%. Barletta pitched the pilot partnership with the compost collection, processing, and reuse company as a way for the town to reduce its waste-stream volumes, saving both Nahant and its residents money on trash collection.
Speaking before a Board of Selectmen meeting on Thursday, Barletta said the $15,000 spending will allow Nahant residents who are currently served by the town’s waste services and not already Black Earth Compost customers a $250 reimbursement for a year of compost pickup, along with metal countertop compost containers, and potentially, a $20 trash bill abatement.
Board of Selectmen Chair Mark Cullinan, a current Black Earth Compost customer, said he supported the program for its expected environmental impact and its financial benefit for the town. Since Nahant is billed by its trash tonnage, Cullinan said the optional program will likely save Nahant a significant amount on waste removal costs.
“I think the environmental benefits are obvious. We’re not sending out food waste to the incinerator to be burned, we’re recycling it and making productive material again. Secondly, we’re taking probably an average of probably 20 to 30 pounds a week in food waste away from waste stream curbside pickup,” Cullinan said.
Barletta said that approximately 75 Nahant residents are currently Black Earth customers and that the pilot program can fund an additional 50 one-year customers. If 100 Nahant residents sign up, Barletta said it would result in a 30% cost reduction for all participating residents.
The Town will host an informational session for residents interested in the program at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom.
“If you’ve ever thought about it, and you just didn’t want to do it because of the financial side, the upfront costs, this is really taking that hurdle away,” Barletta said.
